Changes for 2009

Greetings BW readers,

First, I want to say again, Feliz Ano Nuevo, Bonne Année, and Happy New Year in various other languages. I thank you for spending some time over here when there are many good blogs to visit.

Speaking of, I added several more to my blogroll today. I'm finding that I have many favorites to visit and find things worthy of reposting or commenting on here.

The ones I added (or re-loaded) and my reasons:

Eschaton--it has the best snarks and I'm impressed how many followers Atrios has considering his economy of words. But he's very progressive in his thinking, plus he's an economist. To complement Eschaton, I've also added Paul Krugman's Conscience of a Liberal blog.

The Daily Kos---I wrote it off for awhile because of the bloggers there savaged every candidate but Obama in the primaries. I tend to visit there to comment on the diaries pertaining to the Republican (or in some instances, Democratic ones) morons, to post pics of my critters, or to offer have a cheer or jeer on Bill in Portland Maine's daily C & J column. I made peace with Markos, although I must say I disagree with him quite a bit.

Huffington Post and Daily Beast--both supply breaking news and some good commentaries. HuffPo also overglorified Obama until recently, but I find I visit there pretty often. Daily Beast is shaping up to have some moderates as columnists, but I will be following more of the conservatives just to see what they think.

Yglesias---Matt Y moved over to Think Progress from the Atlantic this year and it appears to be a good fit for him. I find his views to also be very progressive. He tends to run with the Ezra Klein crowd.

Oliver Willis and Taylor Marsh. Those two were at odds with one another over Hillary Clinton during the primaries, so I didn't have them linked to give them some ad change. But with kumbayah, I think both deserve to get back on the blogroll. Taylor is moving to the DC area, and I think she will have much to offer in foreign policy analysis if she gets access to the State Department and Mrs. Clinton's policy wonks. Oliver will continue to bash my Cowboys, just I will continue to trash his Redskins.

Juan Cole's Informed Comment--probably the best in covering the Middle East. He tends to side with the Arabs, but he is extremely good in pulling out facts from the Middle East newspapers early in the morning that even the NYT does not in its reporting whenever a crisis arises.

Prairie State Blue and Capitol Fax blog--good for Illinois politics, especially with all of the pending indictments against Count Blago.

Pam's House Blend--Pam Spaulding's opinions about LGBT politics and marriage equality. In addition, it was she who helped me understand the medical procedures in putting an animal to sleep as she had to put one of her dogs down not long ago.

Discover UU --blog about UU issues posted by different pastors, and about those who wish to have leadership positions within the UUA organization. It complements the link to the Tennessee Valley UU Church's podcasts.

I've Been Mugged--written by fellow blogger and Friend George Jenkins about identity theft and corporate responsibility

I will update this list later as I add more to the blogroll.

I hope to be more consistent in posting something a few times a week, even if the post is brief.

Change you won't see:

This site is still inspired by the democratic vision of John and Elizabeth Edwards. I don't care if John had an affair with Rielle Hunter (other than it hurts his family). I am not of the opinion that he could have "handed the nomination to McCain" when it was blatantly clear that he did not have enough resources to compete for Super Tuesday on Feb 5th, so that argument doesn't hold water, nor do I think he is the biggest loser for the scandal that Ms. Hunter likes to perpetuate through the National Enquirer. I find it more appalling though that media has replaced the narrative of his progressive agenda with a repeating loop about an affair with a spurned woman who is mainly an extortionist opportunist who refuses to go get a real job to support her child.

I will continue to be a scout in locating any speaking engagements and blog posts about their appearances and speeches. The Edwardses have much to still offer in terms of public service, especially speaking out about areas such as health care and poverty, and they were great in bringing progressive minded folks like me together with others. I would be remiss in saying though I think John's days for running for elective office have passed.

Well 2009 has come, ready or not. Should be an interesting year.

Update: Enjoy this video from I can has cheezburger: